


a family meeting

by windsilk



Series: just don't close your heart [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: (she gets it from her mama), F/M, Gen, Humor, sarada has a list of demands and she's not afraid to argue them point by point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-16 19:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16960395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windsilk/pseuds/windsilk
Summary: Sarada has an extremely important request to make, and if she has to write a series of notecards, make a powerpoint deck, film a TED Talk, and ask Sai for help with all of the above, she will.





	a family meeting

she corrals her parents to the kitchen table one evening for a family meeting. 

mama is agreeable enough and sits down without too much insistence, but papa looks perplexed when she tells him to join the meeting. 

it takes her a minute to realize: papa lost his family very young, so she climbs onto the couch next to him and puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. she explains gently that she understands he never had a family growing up but a family meeting is a thing that families do where they talk about matters of import. he looks mildly offended, but he does move to sit down at the table so she considers it a win. 

she is about to speak when she remembers to clear her throat. that’s a thing she’s seen people do when they talk. 

“thank you all for coming.” she looks up from her notes and smiles, finding mama’s encouraging nod enough for her to keep going. “I asked uncle sai about making speeches, and he helped me prepare, so I hope this turns out good.” 

papa looks wary. he glances over at mama to find her sighing and looking up at the ceiling. 

sarada also looks up at the ceiling but doesn’t see anything there, so she presses onward. 

“the topic of the hour is…babies.” 

papa looks like he might die. uncle sai said this might happen so she pays it no mind. 

“as you may know, I am five years old. most of my friends who have siblings have two or three years apart between them. I don’t ask for much–just shelter and food–so I thought I would ask for this one thing. a sister.”

mama raises an eyebrow. “not a brother?” 

“no. and please hold all questions until the end of the presentation.” 

“oh! sorry, sorry.” mama raises her hands in surrender. “my mistake. do continue.” 

papa still looks like he might die, but mama is holding his hand now, so sarada thinks he’ll be okay. 

“I think a sister is a good idea for the following reasons: I won’t be bored at home anymore, someone can wear my old clothes so we don’t have to give them away, and we can buy a bunk bed. I will, of course, have top bunk.”

sarada looks down at her notes again. “I think that’s it. so in conclusion, can I have a sister?” she pauses. “okay, that’s it. you may ask your questions now.” 

papa is bursting at the seams. “sai helped you with this?” 

“yes!” sarada smiles. “I wanted to make sure I presented a strong argument, and he reads a lot, so I thought he would be the smartest person to ask.” 

papa frowns. “we need to talk later about what sai is good for.” 

mama interrupts. “counterpoint: children are expensive. you have such nice things–if we have a baby in the house, you might not get any more nice cardigans or socks. are you okay with that?” 

sarada blanches, and her hands slam on the table. “wait. wait. I’m not going to have pink cardigans anymore if there’s a baby?” 

“well, just not as many.” 

sarada thinks about the sheer number of frilled socks and buttoned sweaters she owns. what if there were less? 

“also,” papa finds the strength to voice his own thoughts, “you have such a nice collection of books on your shelf. sometimes, accidents happen with small children–pages get ripped out, for example.” 

sarada thinks about her rows of books on the bookcase in her room that she’d carefully maintained without a single folded page or crack in a spine. 

“and it would take at least 3 years until you can properly have fun with your sister,” mama adds. “first, we’d have to wait 9 months for her to get here. then, she’d be in diapers for a while, and by the time she could hold conversations with you and sleep in a bunk bed, a lot of time will have passed.”

sarada thinks about the–

“and it could be a boy. we can’t control that kind of thing, sa-chan,” papa shrugs. 

sarada’s eyes get wider and wider. 

“but,” mama cajoles. “if you wanted, we could still find a way for you not to be bored at home.” she pauses, considering. “we could get a puppy.” 

sarada feels like she’s suffocating. uncle sai didn’t tell her that her books would be destroyed and her bunk bed wouldn’t appear for years. “a puppy?” she echoes distantly. 

papa and mama share a victorious smile that she doesn’t understand. papa nods. “we could name him shiro.” 


End file.
